A FORMER Coventry and Nuneaton nurse is at the centre of a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan.

Former Coundon Court School pupil Neva Khan is on the front line as Oxfam’s country director in Pakistan, where she is dealing with the aftermath of yesterday’s suicide bomb – which killed 23 people and injured 200 – and the hundreds of thousands of families who have fled their homes after fighting erupted between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban.

Ms Khan, 46, who grew up in Coundon and regularly returns to visit her father in Exhall, launched a career in nursing and midwifery at Nuneaton’s George Eliot Hospital before going on to work for humanitarian charities.

“It’s now coming close to just over two million displaced people and they’ve had to flee their homes with very little.”

The refugees have set up vast camps where they are now living in cramped conditions without basic amenities

Ms Khan said: “These people have come from higher areas where temperatures have been cooler so the 40 degree heat is a big problem for them.

“There are also cultural issues. For women particularly, living in a camp makes things extremely difficult in relation to privacy. People are suffering huge difficulties in accessing even the most basic amenities, such as going to the toilet.

“And the monsoon season is only weeks away, which will make life even more difficult.”

But Ms Khan says the camps are the tip of the iceberg, with the majority of displaced people hidden away in host communities that don’t have the capacity to cope with the influx.

She said: “Communities are sharing what they have but their resources are badly overstretched, with limited water and limited food supplies.

“Because of the cramped conditions and poor hygiene we are very concerned that there could be outbreaks of diseases.

“Aid is getting through at the moment but the scale of it just isn’t enough and the situation is not getting enough publicity.”

Oxfam has had to double its aid effort in Pakistan from £2.2m to £5.3m.

If you want to donate to Oxfam’s Pakistan appeal you can call 0300 200 1999 or visit www.oxfam.org.uk

Pakistan: the current position

The Pakistan Army is fighting Taliban militants who are trying to control areas in the north west of the country.

Since the fighting started last month more than 1.5 million people have fled their homes, bringing the total number of those displaced by conflict to more than two million since last August.

It is estimated that half of the displaced are children.

Yesterday’s suicide bomb in Lahore is believed to be a revenge attack on the Pakistani authorities from militants under siege in the Swat Valley.